It’s been a long road for the Edina-based grocery chain to get to this stage of the development process. Talks of a Lunds store at 1201 Hennepin Ave. S. got going in late 2004. Now, nearly seven years later, plans for the market are finally moving ahead.

The 20,000-square-foot market is expected to open next summer in the building formerly home to Billy Graham’s headquarters. A 5,600-square-foot Lunds Wine Market will also open nearby at 1208 Harmon Ave.

Lund said a second downtown store has always been the strategy for the company. Lunds opened its University & Central store in 2006.

The new Loring Park location will become an “urban village,” he said. Besides the grocery store and wine shop there will be other new retailers on the block, too.

While the Hennepin grocery store will be the smallest in the Lunds and Byerly’s family, it will be a full-service grocery store. Lunds executives have visited markets in Manhatten to study how stores with small footprints maximize space.

“It will be merchandized exquisitely,” he said.

City Council Member Lisa Goodman (7th Ward) praised Lunds officials at the groundbreaking ceremony, applauding them for reusing a historic building and taking “no penny of public subsidy.”

Goodman, who will be a neighbor of the new Lunds when it opens, said her number one priority was securing a downtown grocery store when she first ran for City Council in 1997. Back then, she said she didn’t know how challenging the task would prove to be.

Goodman has worked with Loring Green resident Bob Anderson for years on courting Lunds to the neighborhood. Anderson, who worked as Lunds’ banker when it merged with Byerly’s, was recognized at the groundbreaking for his behind-the-scenes work on the deal.

SHERIDAN — Mary Colon is hoping to open her new restaurant, Maeve’s Café, before the end of September.

Based on past experience, though, it’s probably safer just to say the eatery will be open soon — probably.

Colon, the former owner of the popular Northeast Minneapolis hangout Audubon Coffee, has affixed several potential opening dates to the joint she’s putting together next to Anchor Fish & Chips on 13th Avenue. The most recent deadline to pass was June 20.

After several false starts, though, Colon said on Aug. 30 that she had passed all of the city’s inspections and is only waiting for a liquor license to open. Because that may take up to three months, Colon said she is now planning to open booze-free to satiate the pent-up demand.

When she does, it will be a personal triumph. Colon has had to overcome financial struggles — fire-proofing the place added an unanticipated $11,000 to her budget — and even personal injury to get the place ready.

Colon is recovering from three slipped disks she suffered while hauling 40 cases of 50-pound tiles during the construction process, an injury that has left her barely able to life a gallon of milk.

“When this place opens, I’m going to dance on the tabletops and hopefully I don’t break anything doing it,” she said.

When it opens, Maeve’s Café, will offer an eclectic variety of ethnic dishes inspired by the neighborhood Colon has long called home. Located at 300 13th Ave. NE, just next to The Anchor Fish & Chips, it will also have coffee and, once the license is in hand, alcohol.

Colon said the struggle to open the new restaurant will be worth it when she can finally invite customers inside. Being away from them, she said, has been the hardest part about the delays.

“Northeast isn’t the kind of neighborhood where you just make a cup of coffee, take their money and go on about your day,” she said. “It’s a big family, and I miss that a lot.”

Minneapolis businesses must offer recycling

As of Sept. 1, city businesses that have garbage service must also offer recycling — pretty much the same rule that applies to residential properties. The change is the result of an amendment to the city’s commercial building ordinance approved in June by the City Council.

The new rule could help the push the city closer to its goal of recycling or composting 50 percent of its waste by 2013, up from 35 percent in 2008. Recycling and composting rates have actually slipped slightly in recent years, according to the city’s 2011 Greenprint report.

The new ordinance requires commercial and business property owners to offer regular recycling collection at least two times each month. They must have recycling containers and recycling collection and storage areas, as well as written recycling information for both customers and employees or tenants.

Property owners looking for tips on setting up a new recycling system will find some on the Rethink Recycling website at rethinkrecycling.com/business. Hennepin County offers its own tip sheet at hennepin.us/businesswaste.

Scratch Food Truck takes to the streets

It may be late in the summer, but new food trucks are still appearing Downtown. Former Subo chef Geoff King and his wife Aimee have launched Scratch Food Truck, a new mobile food vendor focusing on lunch fare with an Asian influence.

“The food is based on the Asian street food I like,” said Geoff King. “I’m not into fusion. It’s my take on a lot of traditional Asian street foods.”

The menu primarily includes sandwiches such as sesame beef and pork and shrimp patties on toasted rolls. It also includes a dessert offering of a ginger-infused rice crispy bar.

Geoff and Aimee King hope to stay out on the streets as long as possible — even into the winter. “It’s pretty hot in here,” joked Aimee King. “We’ll stay out all year if we can.”

A deal for book worms

Several Twin Cities literary organizations have banded together to create a new deal for book lovers — the Literary Punch Card.

Those who have the card and attend 12 “punch-eligible” events are eligible for a $15 coupon at Micawber’s, Magers and Quinn or Common Good Books.

There will be a Punch Party on Sept. 14, 5–7 p.m., at Club Jager, 923 Washington Ave. N. People who attend will learn more about fall literary events and get a chance to celebrate the Twin Cities thriving literary community.

For more information about the program, go to litpunch.com.

Noted

• Three Monkey’s Pub and Grub at 1410 Nicollet Ave. S. is under new ownership. The restaurant is now known as Ryan’s Pub.

• Sea Change Restaurant & Bar at the Guthrie Theater, 806 2nd St. N., has started offering a new “Lake Night Date Night” menu on Friday and Saturday nights. The deal, available after 7:30 p.m., is a four-course dinner and bottle of wine for $99. Menu highlights include East and West Coast oysters, gnocchi with pork cheeks and cauliflower, and roast chicken with cipolline onions and corn.

• The Dunn Bros coffee shop in the skyway level of the LaSalle Plaza building, 800 LaSalle Plaza, has moved into a larger space not far from its original location. The coffee shop’s space is now about four times the size of its other location — roughly 1,000 square feet.

• Lori Pottebaum has changed the name of her business to Art District Chiropractic. She’s been in business in Northeast for 10 years. The previous name was Art of Chiropractic. Her office is at 208 13th Ave. NE.